The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 158: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE MYSTERIES. tomy care. However—let us return to what I was just now saying. We were speaking of the young lady who occupies the next chamber to yours. ‘hat young lady, as you have already been informed, is of high birth—and her name must continue to be veiled in the deepest mystery. She requires a com- panion—some one who will consent to pass a few hours with her each day, and who will neither seek | to draw from her who she is, nor recognise her again esthetic ‘ —————————————————— | fierceness — never menace with their vengeful should they ever meet hereafter in the great and busy world without. Poor creature! she feels sad and lonely—for the nurse is certainly no fitting associate; and I have so many things to attend to, that I can give her but little of my company. Under all these circumstances I have determined to select you as the most genteel—-most amiable—and most discreet of the young females from whorn such a choice could be made.” “T shall cheerfully undertake the duty of ren- dering the time as agreeable as possible to the Jady,” said Caroline, both flattered and pleased at having been thus marked out for the task, “You may, then, at once ascend to her cham- ber, my dear,” returned Mrs. Lindley. “ But, hark !—not a word to the others—or they will be jealous; and they will likewise overwhelm you with impertinent questions whenever they see you. Let them believe that your habits have grown more retired, and that you love to seek the solitude of your own room. By produeing this impression upon them, you may easily pass a few hours every day with the young lady, and not be observed by the rest. Do you comprehend me ?” “Perfectly, ma’am,” answered Caroline ;—and she then withdrew from the midwife’s parlour. In the room to which the girl now ascended, a beauteous creature occupied a bed tastefully fitted up and of a more luxurious character than those in the other dormitories. The young lady was about eighteen. Her eyes were not particularly large, and of the deepest violet blue, shaded by long jetty lashes, and capable of undergoing every variety of expression. When stormy and soul-piercing, they appeared to be black as night and burning with an overwhelming lustre ;—and if eyes could slay, those were the orbs which might have had the power to shoot forth the fiery arrows of death. But when beaming with love, and melting and tender, these eyes were of a. purple hue so exquisitely soft that it seemed as if they could never assume a look of wildness and glances, nor sear with their lightning brilliancy. Hier hair was of a dark brown—of such glossy richness that it seemed of a fainter and more golden hue where the light rested upon it, and black where the shade remained. Her skin was of the purest— most snowy white, save where veined with the pale sapphire’s tint : for the gentle hue of the rose which sate upon her cheeks when she was in health, had now fled—and yet her pallor was not ghastly nor corpse-like—no, nor even sickly, though produced by indisposition;—neither was it insipid—but it was interesting. And in strong ccntrast therewith was the perfectly scarlet richness of her lips, which denoted the warmth of her temperament and the ardour of her nature. The proudly rising throat, sloping shoulders, and well-developed contours of the -bust were in harmony with a very slender waist and finely proportioned limbs: for though 143 she was not above the middle stature of her sex, her symmetry was admirable. Such was the young lady in whose presence Ca- roline Walters now found herself; and for a few instants she stood gazing upon her in mingled ad- miration and respect. “ Come near me—give me your hand,” said the fair patrician, in a winning tone which immediately placed the young woman at her ease; and, ad- vancing to the bed, she took the proffered hand which she pressed cordially as if to imply a hope that they should agree well together. “ Yes—we will be friends,” added the lady, either divining what passed in the other’s mind, or else struck by the same sentiment. “ Your name is Caroline Walters : Mis, Lindley told me that she should select you to be my companion. At present you must not seek to know who Jam: but if I continue to like you as well as Ido now under the influence of a first impression, I will make you my confidant— I will keep no secrets from you.” Caroline was moved almost to tears by the ami- able softness which characterised the patrician’s tone, looks, and manner as she thus spoke ;—and while the young woman gazed on that heavenly countenance, she could not conceive it possible that one so winning, so fascinating, and so tender could have connived at the foul tragedy which had been enacted on the night of whirlwind and of tempest. | Nevertheless, this was a point upon which Caro- line had resolved to satisfy herself so soon as an opportunity should occur. “Sit down by my side, my dear friend—for so I shall eall you,” resumed the lady, sinking baek on the pillow whence she had raised herself on Caro- line’s entrance, “ Let us endeavour to. console each other. You have doubtless been deceived and betrayed by a villain, as 1 have been: you have perhaps loved as I have loyed-——” “Oh! yes—my love was a worship—an idolatry!” exclaimed Caroline. “And now, nothing remains for me but——” “Despair or vengeance!’ murmured the patri- clan, in a tone so altered—so changed from that in which she had previously spoken, that Miss Walters started up in aftright; for it struck her at the in- stant that some other voice had breathed those ter- rible words in the room. “ Yes—despair or vengeance,” echoed Caroline, the moment she recovered her self-possession. “But it shall not be the former,’ she added gloomily: then, fearing that she lad said too much, the young woman hastened to observe, “ I was however wrong to evince such a feeling, which can only tend to make you detest me——” “ Detest you!” ejaculated the patrician, starting up in her couch, a wild light suddenly flashing in her eyes: “I should despise and hate you, were you calmly and resignedly to endure the wrongs which you may have suffered at the hands of a man! Love is the religion of the heart, Caroline,” she continued, in ail impressive tone: ‘it will either elevate those who cherish it, to the condition of saints—or it will hurl them, like fallen angels, into that abyss where rage the flames of vengeance and remorse. We are the fallen angels, Caroline—and like fiends should we war against those who have plunged us into the hell of our outraged feelings, our blighted affections, and our ruined hopes!” lt te COM ClOOOKS COM